I cleaned the bathroom mirror and caught my own face looking tired in it

Dear Delyara, It was such an ordinary moment that it almost annoyed me for being emotional. I was just wiping toothpaste marks and water spots off the mirror because nobody else had done it and I couldn’t stand looking at it one more time. Then the glass cleared and there I was, looking back at myself with that very particular face I get when I have been functioning for too many hours without really arriving anywhere inside myself. Not tragic. Just worn. I stood there with the cloth still in my hand and thought how strange it is that so much of adult life happens in these tiny, unceremonious moments. Not in major events. In mirrors, in laundry baskets, in wiping surfaces, in standing at sinks while your mind is carrying six things at once and your body is quietly asking to be spoken to more kindly than the day has spoken to it. I finished cleaning the mirror. Then I washed my face. Not because I was dirty. Because I wanted to feel touched by something gentle.